State of Iowa v. Joseph D. Ceretti

HECHT, Justice.

The State of Iowa charged Joseph Cer-etti with first-degree murder. In exchange for lesser charges, Ceretti pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter, attempted murder, and willful injury causing serious injury, and offered factual bases for them at a plea hearing. In this appeal, Ceretti contends the attempted murder and willful injury convictions entered under the plea agreement must merge with the voluntary manslaughter conviction because the crimes share a common mens rea element: specific intent to kill. We conclude under the circumstances presented here that the voluntary…